Action Center

Sightline Institute is an independent, nonprofit research and communications center—a think tank—founded by Alan Durning in 1993. While focusing largely on sustainability, it also has an interest in researching Democracy reforms.

Kristin Eberhard is a Senior Researcher with Sightline Institute and lives in Portland. Ms. Eberhard published the paper “Voting Reform Priorities in Oregon” on April 7, 2017;

Excerpt:

If you are an Oregon resident or advocate excited by the energy around democracyreform in the United States, you might be wondering what the easiest or mostimpactful reform opportunities are close to home. Fortunately, Oregon is ripeground for voting reform. The state constitution specifically allows alternative andproportional voting. Charter counties and charter cities have autonomy to makechanges without first seeking a change in state law. And all levels of governmentmake liberal use of the citizens’ initiative process.

Her paper examines changes such as:

Multi member Legislative districts

Unicameral Legislature

Adopting different voting systems such as Ranked Choice Voting

Eliminating or modifying closed Primary

Starting reforms at the local level

She examines how simple each reform could be to enact and the impact of the change.

If you believe, as I do, that voting and improving the way we elect people to office is a pre-requisite for any democracy reform, this is must reading.